


Yearbooks

by FinnWyatt



Category: Original Work
Genre: Developing Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:08:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23515939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FinnWyatt/pseuds/FinnWyatt
Summary: Eli gets bored and decides to look through the piles of Adrian's stuff in their living room. He's caught and they both learn a lot about each other.
Relationships: Eli/Adrian





	1. Boredom

Eli was bored. It was one in the afternoon on a Sunday, and Adrian was still holed up in his room, probably sleeping, though Eli wouldn’t dare check. The last time he wandered into Adrian’s bedroom he had almost had an aneurism at the sight that met him. The space was less like a dump and more like an active war zone. The chaos that permeated the room seemed almost purposeful, like he knew precisely what he was doing but cared too little to stop it. The obscure band posters that adorned his walls were so crooked they had to have been hung that way on purpose, and the sheer number of books and unopened boxes scattered around the floor rivaled that of Adrian’s corner of their living room. The top of his dresser was cluttered with miscellaneous items, and two of the drawers were stuck open, crooked on their tracks. He also had an extraordinary amount of clothes littering his floor for someone who wore practically the same thing every day. 

So, Eli made it a habit to avoid the room whenever possible; something Adrian had also gotten very used to. Unfortunately, this meant that Adrian could disappear for hours on end with zero explanation and Eli couldn’t do shit about it without irritating the other man and stressing himself out more.

Without Adrian around to keep him sane, Eli found himself roaming around the apartment, searching for something to occupy his mind. After some deliberation, he decided to clean out their – admittedly bare – fridge, pulling out a small container of yogurt and wincing as he opened it, making a mental note as the sour smell hit him to finally stop buying the stuff. (That had been the third pack of yogurt over the last few months to be forgotten in the back of their fridge. For some reason Eli kept convincing himself that he would eat it.) 

After throwing out about a third of their food (he would rather not have death by expired deli meats engraved on his tombstone) he wandered into his bedroom, pausing in the doorway to contemplate the state of the room. It was clean, with the exception of the rumpled bedsheets and a pair of jeans on the floor. He took care of those quickly, straightening out the bed and tossing the jeans into the hamper in the corner (he would have to do laundry soon. Maybe he could convince Adrian to bring out some of the clothes that had made a home on his floor), and in less than a minute the space was perfectly clean. He sighed, disappointed for the first time since he moved in that he wasn’t more like Adrian when it came to hygiene. He could spend hours cleaning his bedroom then and still not be finished by the time Adrian decided to venture out into the world. 

He walked back out into the hall, pausing for a second in front of Adrian’s door and listening for any sign of life. Hearing nothing, he continued out into the living room, where he found himself standing in the middle of the floor, staring intently at the piles of books and boxes that littered Adrian’s corner of the room. He stood there for a few moments, curiosity starting to get the best of him. He and Adrian had always had a silent agreement to never screw with each other’s stuff – he didn’t touch Adrian’s books, and Adrian didn’t touch what few personal items Eli had in the apartment – but, the way he saw it, he really had no other option unless he wanted to take the car and get them some more food. One glance out the window shattered that plan. It had been raining all day, but now it was pouring, the city caught in a full on torrential downpour. 

Well shit.

Eli sighed and turned back to the boxes. Their unspoken rule had been in place since he moved in, leaving him with no idea what would happen if he actually did mess with the boxes scattered around the large oak desk. He glanced toward Adrian’s bedroom, then back at the mess. Screw this, he thought, and strode toward the corner, crouching down in front of one of the smaller boxes on the floor. He spun it around, pausing when the label caught his eye. He cocked an eyebrow as he read the word “Kitchen” scrawled in sharpie across the cardboard. Okay? As far as Eli knew, the only kitchen supplies that Adrian owned – besides the ones that came with the apartment – were a couple of bright red ceramic bowls (Christmas present), three mugs. a set of tacky, Christmas-themed plates (a joke gift; they had come with the bowls), some cheap silverware, a couple of mismatched plastic cups, two old pots, a pan that smelled like burning rubber whenever they used it, their rusting tea kettle, and a few little things lying around in their drawers. Eli stared at the label for a moment, considering the possible contents of this box and the many others around him. Do they all have important shit in them? He wouldn’t have put it above Adrian to forget that essential items were just sitting underneath the mess that he called office space, or to simply refuse to unpack everything out of pure laziness. He sighed and shook his head, moving to open the box.

Books. 

Eli sat back, his eyebrows scrunched together. That’s it? He reached in – slightly disappointed – and picked up the book on the very top. The words “Dictionary of Quotes – Bergen Evans” were engraved in gold on the deep-blue cover. He opened it and flipped through the yellowed pages, stopping to read one of the quotes. “When a gentleman is disposed to swear, it is not for any standers-by to curtail his oaths. [Shakespeare: Cymbeline II.i.]” He raised an eyebrow, scoffing at the image that his mind supplied of Adrian hunched over his desk, a contemplative expression on his face as he reads over those same words. 

He smiled and finished flipping through the rest of the book before quickly losing interest. As he went to set it to the side, though, the cover of another in the box caught his eye. It was a hardback, the cover a deep black with the image of a mountain lion etched into the center in a shining gold. He lifted it from the box slowly, taking in the simple design. His eyes scanned the cover, stopping at the bottom where the numbers 2012 - 2013 were engraved in gold. 

“Holy shit,” Eli whispered aloud to the empty living room. “His fucking yearbook.” He let out a sharp laugh and then froze for a second before whipping around to look at Adrian’s bedroom door. He held his breath for a few moments, fully expecting to see a disgruntled Adrian stomping out of his room at any second to curse Eli out for rooting through his stuff. But no sounds of movement reached his ears, and the door remained closed. So, dissolving into soft, relieved laughter, Eli turned his attention back to the item in his hands.

The yearbook was fairly hefty – the hard cover and glossy pages loaned it some weight – and though it was a good six years old, it looked almost brand new, like it had been sitting in its box since it was printed. Eli flipped it open to the first page and allowed himself a brief moment of shock at the sheer amount of writing on the inside cover. He quickly shook it off, though. It’s a yearbook, idiot, he thought to himself. People sign yearbooks. It’s what they’re for. Still, the nagging image of the unapproachable, self-declared prick he had come to know over the past year remained in the back of his mind, a constant question of How the hell did he get all these? 

There had to have been about ten or fifteen phone numbers, most of them printed neatly in various colors of gel pen, the unmistakable flow of girl’s handwriting taking up a good portion of the page. More notable were the few numbers scrawled messily in the corners in faded pencil, one of which with the name Sean scribbled under it next to a hastily drawn heart. Eli raised an eyebrow at that, but his attention was quickly snagged by the longer and much larger messages residing in the middle of the page. Most of them were just various versions of the same old things – Have a great summer! I’m gonna miss you, man. Never change. – but there were the occasional oddballs. Apparently someone named Ashley felt the need to remind Adrian that his final presentation on The Raven was “utter shit,” though judging by the hearts surrounding her signature and the neatly written “I’m gonna miss you, loser” under it, the message was more of a friendly taunt than a cruel jab at his presentation skills. Aside from that, multiple people had also signed the page with well-wishes regarding his journey to “the city,” something Eli filed away for later. 

Once he had read over every message twice, letting each little glimpse into Adrian’s life really sink in, he began to flip through the rest of the book. He scanned over the faces of hundreds of strangers in various stages of puberty – some with the stereotypical acne and braces, some hidden under pounds of makeup and hair gel, and others with perfectly forgettable faces. Each grade had its own separate section, and within each section the students were set up in alphabetically ordered grids. Eli continued to flip through until he reached the page with a large “Senior Class” printed in the middle in white block letters. The text was surrounded by candid shots of football games, cheesy school spirit outfits, and kids waving at the camera with smiles that were just a little too big to be genuine. Eli tried to resist rolling his eyes and instead went to work on finding the “M’s.” 

Spencer Madden was the first name on the page. He was an average-looking guy; dark, shoulder-length hair with a little too much gel in it, giving it a sort of unwashed look, sharp eyes, a long, thin nose, and lips that were turned up just slightly at the corners in a self-satisfied smirk. The picture was obviously professionally shot; the lighting was perfectly staged and he was dressed in an expensive-looking suit, the kind that only ever leaves the closet for special events. His senior quote was some bullshit anecdote about success in the real world that he must have gotten from his father judging by the “G. Madden” that followed it. Eli just barely suppressed the urge to scoff, instead moving on to scan through the rest of the names in the section.

He froze when, at last, his eyes landed on a familiar face. Holy shit. He stared down at the boy in the picture, taking in his slightly softer features and considerably wilder mop of hair. His eyes had darkened over the years (or maybe it just seemed that way), and something in his expression screamed teenage misfit. The right side of his mouth was quirked up in a genuine-looking grin, as if he had thought of something funny just as the picture was taken, and his chin was tilted just slightly upwards in a show of subtle defiance. The picture was average quality; the right side of his face was shining white from the way the sun hit it, and the background was lifeless, the whole thing riddled with shadows. Adrian either hadn’t been able to scrounge up the money for a suit, or just didn’t feel like bothering with one, because he was wearing a graphic t-shirt with a dark flannel thrown over it, the collar of which was turned up slightly from an invisible wind. The whole scene was a mess, but it had a genuine feel to it, and it held that same “in the moment” energy that Adrian still seemed to carry with him every day. 

Below the picture sat a single sentence: “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” - Albert Einstein. Eli had to stifle a laugh at the quote, glad to see that the other man’s humor hadn’t changed much over the years. Even now when he watched the news or glanced out their window to see yet another accident in the street, he would simply roll his eyes and mumble something about how people are too stupid for their own good. Then he would laugh as if he had said something hilarious (maybe in his mind he did) and turn off the TV or close the blinds. Sometimes it was like living with an old man trapped inside the body of a cynical twenty four year-old.

Just as Eli was about to abandon the photo in favor of searching through the rest of the section for any other glimpses into Adrian’s life before they met, a gravelly voice called out from behind him. “Find anything interesting?”

Eli flinched so hard the book nearly flew from his hands. “Jesus Christ!” He whipped his head around to face the source of the noise. There, at the opening of the hallway, stood Adrian, arms crossed, leaning slightly against the wall for support. He was wearing a loose t-shirt and a pair of dark flannel pajama pants, the ones that had a large hole in the right knee and were too thin to offer any kind of actual comfort. His face held a similar expression to that of his younger self in the photo still facing upwards in Eli’s lap, though the amused smirk now portrayed a hint of annoyance. The two stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, Eli searching for some kind of excuse as to why he had been caught rooting through the other man’s personal stuff, and Adrian waiting patiently for a response, his eyebrows raised expectantly. 

“I…um…” Eli floundered, causing Adrian’s smile to widen. He pushed off from the wall and uncrossed his arms, bringing one hand up to comb through the mess of curls on his head. He walked over to where Eli was still sitting cross-legged on the floor and stared down at him. 

“Finally got curious, huh?” He glanced down at the yearbook in Eli’s hands, his eyes widening just slightly when he realized what he was looking at. “Jesus,” he exclaimed softly, dropping to the floor in a heap of limbs in front of Eli and arranging himself to match the other man’s position. He reached over and plucked the book from Eli’s lap. “I forgot about this fucking thing.” His tone was light, but Eli still held his breath, waiting for the inevitable snap. “Jesus,” he repeated, and then chuckled to himself. He glanced up at Eli, his smile much softer now. “I don’t think I’ve opened any of these boxes since I moved in here, not even the ones in my fucking room. At first I was just too lazy, you know? But then I figured…if I hadn’t missed any of this stuff for a few months, it must not be that important.” He looked back down at the yearbook and huffed, his demeanor shifting. “And it looks like I was right. I mean…” he reached out and slapped at Eli’s leg with the back of his hand. “…Jesus, man, how would you like it if I went flipping through all of your old pictures and shit?” 

Eli said nothing, just staring at the other man with wide eyes as he attempted to process the shift from annoyed to nostalgic, then back to annoyed in seemingly no time at all.   
Adrian stared back for a few seconds before letting out an awkward laugh. “Hey, man.” He nudged Eli with his foot. “I’m just fucking with you. Jeez, you look like you got caught stealing the crown jewels.” He chuckled to himself before fixing Eli with a meaningful look. “You good?”

Eli nodded slightly, and the two men were once again thrust into a bout of awkward silence. 

The silence was broken when, without warning, they both burst into laughter – hysterical, unexpected laughter which neither of them could really explain, nor could they say for sure who started it. They laughed until they couldn’t breathe, at which point they calmed down just long enough to meet each other’s eyes – cheeks red and chests heaving – only to start laughing all over again. Neither man had any idea what was so funny about the whole ordeal – whether it was the pure absurdity of the situation, or just lingering embarrassment (though it was probably a mix of both) – but what they did know was that any tension from that morning had completely dissolved, leaving a new kind of understanding in its wake.


	2. Who Are You, Really?

Once they had finally calmed down enough to look at each other without bursting into laughter, the two men sat for a few moments, catching their breath. Adrian huffed and looked down at the yearbook in his hands, smiling softly before glancing back over at Eli. “So, uh…” He picked up the book and placed it in Eli’s lap. “What do you think?” 

Eli stared back at Adrian’s expectant face, confusion written all over his features. “About what?”

Adrian chuckled and gestured toward his picture. “About me.” He met Eli’s eyes and raised his eyebrows. “What do you think? Was I as handsome as you thought I would be?”

Eli rolled his eyes before schooling his features into a genuine expression. “Actually better,” he responded, his tone lacking any traces of humor. “No, no, I’m serious,” he protested when Adrian scoffed. “Really. I was expecting full-on Richie Tozier from IT vibes but this… ” He struggled to keep a straight face as Adrian began to laugh, and soon he was talking through his own wide smile. “This was definitely a step up.”

Adrian stopped laughing abruptly, looking to Eli with a dead-serious expression, as if he had suddenly thought of something earth-shattering. “Wait,” he said, holding up a hand. “1990s Richie Tozier or 2017 Richie Tozier?”

Eli pretended to think it over for a moment before shaking his head. “Not 1990s.” He smiled slyly at the other man. “Maybe in terms of obnoxiousness, but I can’t picture you with the red hair.”

Adrian’s expression morphed into a mix of amusement and – interestingly – pride. He chuckled softly. “Fuck you, man,” he said with no real venom in his voice. They sat in relative silence (they hadn’t really stopped laughing since this whole thing started) for a few seconds until Adrian broke it again. “I could totally pull off that look, by the way.” 

Eli squinted at him. “What, the red hair?” 

“Yeah. You don’t think so?”

Eli shook his head decisively. “Nope.”

Adrian threw his hands up. “Aww, c’mon man! You’re supposed to support me in this stuff!”

Eli shook his head again. “Not when it’ll end in you looking like the Weasleys’ estranged son who was disowned for smoking too much pot and flunking out of Hogwarts.”

Adrian stared at him for a moment, his lips parted slightly and his eyes narrowed. “You know I don’t get your references, dude.” 

Eli scoffed. “Yeah, cause you didn’t have a childhood.”

“Not my fault!” Adrian held his hands up, palms facing Eli in a defensive gesture. He sighed dramatically and ran one hand through his dark hair when Eli gave him a look that said Yeah, right. “Okay, okay,” he said, getting back to the subject at hand. “No red hair for me. But I can’t make any promises about other colors.” He laughed at Eli’s exasperated eye roll.

“Why can’t you just get a tattoo like a normal person?” Eli asked, gesturing toward Adrian’s bare arms. 

Adrian gasped and pulled his arms in toward his chest. He put on a scandalized expression, his eyes widening theatrically. “And mark up this beautiful skin?” He leaned in toward Eli just slightly. “Don’t you know that I’m trying to stay pure for marriage?” He laughed when Eli slapped him on the arm. “I’m serious! Who will have me if I look like some tatted-up hooligan?”

“I hate to break it to you, man,” Eli responded, shaking his head with a smile. “But if you’re worried about looking like a hooligan, tattoos are the least of your problems.” 

“Fuck you,” Adrian said again. “I think I look very respectable.” He held his arms out to the sides in a look at all of this gesture. “You’re telling me you wouldn’t give up your only daughter to this?” 

“If you were rich, maybe.”

Adrian laughed. “Nah, man. I’m marrying her for your money.”

“Well then no. No blessing for you.” Eli crossed his arms, a small smile on his face.

“Damn.” Adrian sighed before perking up once again. “Well what about you? Would you have me?”

Eli barked out a shocked laugh. “Not a chance.”

Adrian shook his head sadly. “Well,” he conceded, “I tried my best.” He sighed loudly. “I’ll just become an old spinster I guess, maybe get a few cats. We could have matching Nirvana sweaters.” 

“Jesus,” Eli breathed out. “You’re fucking weird.” 

Adrian raised an eyebrow. “You say that like you didn’t already know.”

“Good point.” Eli chuckled and looked down at his lap, where the forgotten yearbook still sat. Then he glanced at the box that it came from, reminding himself how this whole conversation started in the first place. “Hey.” He looked back at Adrian. “Why is all of this shit labeled ‘Kitchen?’”

Adrian’s eyebrows drew together for a moment at the sudden change in topic. Then he hummed softly and shrugged. “I stole them from a friend a few years ago after I helped him move.” He looked around at all of the boxes surrounding them. “I wasn’t really paying attention to labels. I’m pretty sure some of these say ‘Nursery’ on them.” 

“Well shit.” Eli raised his eyebrows. “Glad I didn’t find one of those first.”

Adrian’s eyes widened comically. “I’m not!” He shook his head, slightly disappointed. “Damn…I could have had so much fun with that. Told you I had a secret kid or something. Shit.” He rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Jesus,” Eli breathed out. “God, I’m just trying to picture you with a kid…and it is not working out,” he added when Adrian smirked at him. 

Adrian’s smirk morphed into a theatrical pout. “What, you don’t think I’d be a good dad?”

“Yeah,” Eli scoffed. “Mr. ‘Human stupidity is infinite’ as a dad. That wouldn’t mess up a kid.”

Adrian laughed and looked down at the yearbook, the quote that he had chosen as a bitter, chaotic teenager still fresh in his mind. He took a deep breath in and released it slowly. “Man,” he said, still staring at the glossy pages. “I can’t believe you found that thing.”

“I can’t believe you kept it.”

Adrian scrunched his eyebrows together. “What, you didn’t keep your yearbooks?”

Eli shook his head. “I didn’t buy them.”

“Why not?”

Eli let out a short, humorless laugh. “Why would I pay eighty bucks for a book full of people I have no emotional connection to whatsoever, and a picture of myself that will make me wanna die every time I look at it?”

Adrian’s eyes widened dramatically. “Jesus, tell me how you really feel.”

“I’m serious, man.” Eli huffed and picked up the yearbook, closing it and holding it up in the air. He shook it lightly. “These things…” He tossed it to the side. “They’re fucking stupid.”

“Well I guess I don’t need to ask how your high school years went.” 

Eli rolled his eyes. “They were fine. I just never understood what the big deal was about all that stuff. I mean, it’s not like I was bullied or some shit, I wasn’t miserable. I just didn’t get it. Football games, prom – ”

“Wait, did you not go to prom?” Adrian’s eyes were wide with disbelief.

Eli shook his head, giving Adrian a look that said it should have been obvious. “Why should I have? Didn’t have anyone to go with.”

Adrian threw his hands up. “That doesn’t matter! Prom is about getting smashed and acting like a fucking idiot before you have to grow up and be responsible and shit.”  
Eli smirked. “So I guess you’re still at prom then?”

“Fuck you.” Adrian glared at him playfully.

Eli chuckled. “Okay,” he said, changing the subject. “What about you? What were you like in high school?”

Adrian ran his hands through his hair and let out a soft huff. “Depends on who you ask,” he said, an odd mix between timid and proud. “The girls will tell you I’m a bastard who was just lucky enough to be good-looking, the guys will tell you I’m a fag who just happened to be good with sports, and the teachers will tell you I was a little asshole who was lucky I had just enough brains to graduate.” He laughed at his own words, his smile slightly forced. “All compliments, really.”

Eli raised an eyebrow. “Okay…” He shifted his position, uncrossing his legs and bending them so he could rest his arms on his knees. “And if ask you?”

Adrian smiled again, smaller this time, but genuine. “Well, I was a bastard, that’s for sure. As far as everything else goes…” He trailed off with a smirk. “Well, I did a lot of shit: some that I’m proud of, some not so much. But that’s high school, right?” He thought for a moment. “Overall, though, I’d say I was pretty much what you see right here.” He gestured vaguely at himself. “I mean, just picture this but with less self-control.” A slight pause. “And acne.” 

Eli gestured toward the yearbook on the floor. “Bit more social, too.”

“Hmm?” Adrian tilted his head slightly to the right, scrunching up his eyebrows as he stared at Eli. Suddenly, memories of grabby hands, forced well-wishes, and pens scribbling out names and numbers flashed through his mind. “Oh.” He ran a hand through his hair once again. “Yeah, well, it’s harder to get people to leave you alone when you’re forced to spend thirty hours a week with them.” He chuckled humorlessly. “Trust me, very few of those ‘friendships’ were my idea.”

Eli raised an eyebrow. “So, what? You move across the country to escape social interaction?”

Adrian took a deep breath in, then released it with a breathy laugh. He shook his head slightly. “Caught on to that, did you?”

“Dude.” Eli fixed Adrian with a look that said Seriously? “I’ve lived here my whole life. I don’t recall seeing any schools in the city with cacti the size of houses growing outside of them.” He shifted his position slightly, his legs starting to go stiff. “So, where was it? New Mexico? Texas?”

“God no,” Adrian cut him off, seeming almost offended. “You think I’d set foot in that fucking state?” He shook his head venomously. “No. I’m from Arizona.”

“Huh.” Eli nodded slightly. “Well, that explains nothing,” he finished in a dead voice. “I thought everyone out West was supposed to be like…ridiculously nice and shit.” 

Adrian raised his eyebrows in a look that said Duh. “Why do you think I came here? Everyone minds their business in the city.” He fixed Eli with a judgmental look. “Well almost everyone,” he teased.

Eli glared at him, unamused. “So,” he said, avoiding the accusation. “You moved out here right after graduation?”

Adrian nodded. “Day of.” He sounded almost proud. “Packed up my shit and got the hell out of dodge. My parents were real enthusiastic about it, too. Paid for everything.” His voice carried just the slightest tone of bitterness.

Eli decided to let that go for the moment. He was about to change the subject entirely before a thought hit him. He scrunched up his eyebrows, frowning slightly as he met Adrian’s eyes. “What about college?”

Adrian shrugged. “Full ride,” he said casually.

“Seriously?” 

Adrian narrowed his eyes slightly. “What, just because I’ve got a bad attitude that means I can’t be smart?” He asked with fake offense.

Eli blanched. “That’s not what I meant,” he defended, before catching Adrian’s amused expression. The color returned to his face quickly as he pursed his lips and shook his head. Dick, he though bitterly. He inhaled deeply, trying to get the conversation back on track. “Where did you even go?”

Adrian chuckled softly to himself before shrugging again. “St. Joseph’s,” he said, sounding utterly unimpressed. “So it wasn’t that hard to get in anyway.” He let out a sharp huff. “I was an English major.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah.” Adrian shook his head with a small smile. “Practical, I know.” 

Eli chuckled, and the room went silent for a few seconds until he spoke up again. “So, are your parents still out there? In Arizona,” he added at Adrian’s puzzled expression. 

Adrian sighed and shifted a bit. “My best guess would be yes.” His voice lifted slightly at the end of the statement, as if he were questioning it himself. “Though they could be in Mexico for all I know. I don’t really keep track.” 

Eli frowned slightly. “Really? No contact whatsoever?” 

“Ah.” Adrian waved his hands around in a It doesn’t really matter motion. “Just a check in the mail once a month and the occasional call from Mom saying that she and Dad ‘hope I’m doing well for myself,’ and that they would visit me but they’ve ‘just been so busy.’” He raised the pitch of his voice in a terrible impression of his mother, making Eli laugh sharply before narrowing his eyes and pointing at the other man accusingly.

“So that’s why you won’t get a job.”

Adrian held up his hands in defense. “Hey, if they want to send me money I’m not gonna stop them.” He put his hands down and raised an eyebrow at Eli. “It mostly goes into paying our bills, anyway.”

Eli scrunched up his eyebrows. “So why the hell am I working my ass off every day?” He asked indignantly.

Adrian fixed him with an unimpressed stare. “You work tech support. Calm down. And,” he cut off Eli before he could respond. “I said mostly. It’s not enough to live off of. Plus…” He gestured to the shelf of books behind them. “I do still have an addiction to feed,” he said with a smirk. 

“Oh, so you’re fully aware that you’re blowing all of our money on books you’ll only read once,” he retorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Hey,” Adrian complained. “I could be out smoking crack, you know.” Eli rolled his eyes, though it only managed to encourage the other man, who raised the back of his hand to his forehead in a dramatic fainting motion. “But instead I stay at home,” he sighed dramatically. “Striving to better myself while I wait faithfully for my dearest to return home from battle.”

“Shut up,” Eli blushed and leaned forward to smack him on the arm, causing both men to dissolve into laughter. “You’re an idiot." 

“Yeah?” Adrian asked with a teasing edge to his voice. “Well, I’m an idiot who hasn’t eaten for eighteen hours.” He pushed himself up to his feet suddenly and clapped his hands together, looking down at Eli. “I need some breakfast.” He turned and started toward the kitchen.

Eli stared after him for a few seconds with a smile on his face before calling out to correct him. “Lunch!”

“Whatever!”

Eli chuckled and rolled his eyes fondly before standing and brushing himself off. He glanced down at the yearbook still lying off to the side, smiling softly before bending down to pick it up. After looking back over his shoulder to make sure that Adrian was still occupied with trying to find something edible in their newly-cleared out fridge, he flipped back to Adrian’s page and folded down the top corner, bookmarking it before closing the book and placing it back in its cardboard box.


End file.
